The most common virtues found within Knighthood, can be found in many different works. Movies and books, art work, philosophies, and in many religions. You will find that these virtues are shared in a way that the feeling of the virtues are there, even though sometimes they are represented and presented to us in slightly different ways.

Hello and welcome back to the Knights Of Awakening. Today will be the first of many short videos and blogs that we are going to be exploring the basic and most commonly held “Knightly Virtues” found across all lands and found in just about every time period, not to mention in most belief systems. These virtues represent values that most of us, if not all of us, strive to embody.

As a side note: You will hear this in other videos and read it in other blog posts as well, I said in a post to one of our friends over at the KOA group discussion page, that I am going back to basics. I personally will be focusing on the basics, because for me, it is time to do that. After everything that has been going on the past several years, I feel it is time to go back to what go me started on this path. I will be focusing my attention on 3 separate mini series dedicated to this endeavor. I apologize in advance if you hear and see many recurring themes throughout. If you do find them, it is because I personally feel that they need to be said more than once. We start with values and virtues, because these are the foundation that the rest of our beliefs (whatever those are for you) are built upon.

These virtues are not in any particular order. I purposely did not assign value to one over the other. The reason for this, is because I don’t find that one is more important than the other. Each of these, in whatever shape or form they come in for you, carry their own weight and strength when understood and used in harmony with each other.

Faith

Faith is simply defined as; “complete trust or confidence in someone or something.” That could be faith in God, the Force, your mentors and teachers, your friends and family, or yourself. To your philosophy or religion, your martial art or other discipline, to your group or order. To have faith in all or any of these, means to have full trust and confidence in them. When we have Faith, we tend to no longer question these in our day to day lives. That is until they are tested….

Faith is one of those things about us that are tested nearly every single day. In one way or the other, we have our faith tested when we interact with the world. Some will see this testing as a bad thing. They will stand strong and steadfast against whatever comes their way without sacrificing their faith, even if it means locking themselves into a pattern, a box, or a dogmatic view of the world. Even shutting out entire groups of people for fear that they will challenge them.

Others, when tested, quickly waiver and fold in the face of adversity and challenge. They find that they have false faith in whatever or whoever it may be. Those who do this, are quick to abandon their faith and often times feel lost and defeated. They search endlessly for those things and people who will fill the “emptiness” that they perceive to have in potentially unhealthy ways.

It is not for me to judge which kind of person is better off between the two examples that I have described here. I myself have been at both ends of this spectrum at many points in my journey. But as I have said many times before, there is more than two ways to see the world and our place in it.

These days, I find myself more in-between these two extreme examples. I suspect, many of us fall in the middle. This is the most healthy place to be in my humble opinion. Maturity is the key to this. Having emotional maturity; to be able to hear or see something that you do not like or that goes against what you believe, without getting “triggered” or angry. To approach challenges to your beliefs and faith in a way that allows you to learn to be strong, but flexible enough to find a potential lesson or opportunity to grow. To have enough maturity, to treat everyone, with at the very least, a basic respect whether you agree with them or not.

This reminds me of something I have shared before; an example of emotional control over ones self that I shared with someone in the comments. Emotional control is someone who can look at another point of view without getting all worked up over it. Someone who doesn’t need others to “protect” their feelings when they see or hear something that bothers them. Someone who has enough emotion maturity to accept the fact that someone has a different opinion than you. Having enough spiritual maturity to understand that growth can take place when you are offered a different opinion or perspective.

I believe that we only grow when our ideals and beliefs are challenged. So many paths have much in common with each other, if you open up and allow discussion without prejudging a persons POV, people from different paths can find value, especially the value from the give and take discussions. When I put content out, it is not meant to be an end all be all, it is meant to be a discussion starter.

There is a certain flexibility to be had when we encounter things that are in opposition to our currently held beliefs. Don’t remove yourself from the fray and chaos of life. Roll up your sleeves and don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty.

Faith is what helps us face our “Boogeyman”. Faith has a way of helping us all past those weaknesses that we may perceive in our selves. Faith has a way of keeping going in the face of unbeatable odds. Be strong in your Faith, but not so that you become brittle. Be strong in your flexibility, this way you will be able to withstand the storm without being destroyed and broken once it passes.

I Love you all very much, Take care of yourselves and each other. Until next time……Awaken the Knight Within!